“No, Valentine’s Day is about making people feel guilty if they forget, or crappy because they don’t have someone, or awful because their relationship isn’t all happy and la-de-da-tiptoe-through-the-tulips. You don’t need a special day designated by greeting card companies to be romantic. Romance is remembering the person every day, not just once per year. Romance isn’t about the big gestures— that’s not to say that big gestures from time to time aren’t great. But that’s not what makes a romance work. It’s the little expressions of love that keeps a marriage working over a lifetime. That’s what I see when I look at happy relationships that last.”
The breath stopped in Colette’s throat. How was it possible that this man was still single?
“That’s completely right,” she said. “Exactly. I’m glad people love Valentine’s Day and enjoy it, but I think the holiday can be bad, every bit as much as it can be good.”
She tipped her head back to look at him. “You’re pretty amazing.”
His lips curved slightly and he slid his hand over hers. “I wish you’d figured that out ten years ago.”
I did, just a little too late. She opened her mouth to say so, but then remembered the hurt and anger in his expression when things had ended between them, and the discomfort it had caused during their discussion earlier— did she want to dredge that up already?
Then again, maybe discussing the past wouldn’t cause problems after all.
“Go to sleep,” he said. “It’s going to be a long night.”
As her eyes drifted closed, she saw the yellow blinking light of the snow plow pass by the window again.
Chapter Four
“Mom! I’m hungry!”
The little boy’s voice woke Colette from her fitful night’s rest. She lifted her head from what turned out to be Drew’s lap and looked up at him. He had put his arm up on the back of the chair and propped his head against it. His other hand created a pool of warmth on her waist. His eyelashes fluttered open, exposing brown eyes, and he sucked in a deep breath.
“Good morning, beautiful,” she teased him.
“I should be the one to say that. How did you sleep?”
She twisted her head from side to side, working out the kinks in her neck. “Not great. How about you?”
“Better than I expected. Not nearly as well as you did.” Drew rubbed his neck and stretched his back.
“I’m sorry, having me take up half your space probably didn’t help.”
“I didn’t mind. Do you want me to see if the restaurants are open?”
“That’s probably a good idea. I’ll hang here with our things.” She would need a bathroom break soon, but at the moment she was doing okay. She brushed the hair back from her face and realized her appearance could probably use a touch-up. She opened her suitcase and pulled out her makeup case. Oh yeah, she was as far from beautiful as she could get. Her mascara was badly smeared and her hair was a mess. Colette pulled out a comb and straightened the hair first, and then cleaned up her face and fixed her makeup.
She put the comb away and, not wanting to wake her sister with a call if she was asleep, sent Sarah a text message asking for an update on how she was feeling. It was frustrating being so far away when her sister was probably sick. Chemo had been extra rough this time. Bill had rearranged his work schedule to be there almost full time while Colette worked, but this delay in her trip home meant she’d left them in the lurch.
Colette watched the snow pelting against the windows. A quick glance at the weather app on her phone indicated it would be at least a few more hours before the storm dissipated. She hoped the weatherman was right that it would end today. She put her phone away and looked back up in time to see Drew returning— empty handed. He shook his head.
“No food?”
“One is open, but chow mein for breakfast is just wrong. Two of the restaurants apparently stayed open after all the others closed and ran out of food a couple hours ago. Most of the restaurants have posted that they’ll open again at seven. You can hold out for another hour, right?”
“Yes, I’m glad it’s only a delay. I could imagine the revolt if they run out of food before we can leave the airport.”
“Tell me about it.” He plopped down beside her. “Did you notice the snow outside?”
“Yeah. Did it stop at all last night?”
“Doubtful.”
“But I’m hungry!” the little boy said again.
Teresa sighed. “I can’t buy you any food until the food court opens again. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, do you want some trail mix?” Drew dug into his duffel and pulled out the bag he had bought the previous afternoon. Most of it was still in the package. “I think there’s enough to go around.”
“You don’t have to,” Teresa demurred, but Colette could see that she was tired and probably hungry, too.
“He wouldn’t offer it if it was going to be a problem.” Colette took the package and opened it, pouring some into each of the kids’ hands. “How did you guys sleep?”
The kids all answered, though the older boy was less groggy than the rest. Colette shared some trail mix with Teresa, poured a very small amount in her own hand, and then passed what was left back to Drew. Thankfully it had been a rather large bag, so it wasn’t entirely empty.
When the oldest boy finished, he said. “I’m still hungry.”
“Josh, be nice and tell them thank you. We’ll have breakfast later.” Teresa turned to Colette with embarrassment. “I’m sorry, you’re very kind to share with us.”
“You’re welcome,” Drew reassured her.
Collette focused on the boy. “That wasn’t breakfast, it was only a snack to keep your stomach from hurting while we’re waiting for the restaurants to open. It won’t be too much longer.”
“Hey, do you guys like to play Go Fish?” Drew asked, pulling out his pack of cards.
“Yeah,” the older boy said. “We both like Go Fish.”
“Perfect. Colette and I like it a lot, too. Come sit on the floor with us.”
It was a little cramped to squeeze two adult-sized bodies and two kids onto the floor between the rows of chairs, but they managed to get down and play several rounds of the game while they waited for breakfast time.
Colette loved watching Drew interact with the kids, joking with them and distracting them from the fact that they couldn’t eat for a while. He was good with kids, even though they were much younger than the teens he taught at school. She wondered if he had experience dealing with small children, or if it was natural.
When people started returning to the terminal area with bags of food, they finished the game and Drew stood. “How about if I go grab us all some breakfast. Any requests?”
“Pancakes!” the older boy demanded.
“Eggs!” the girl added.
Teresa reached into her purse and pulled out a five-dollar bill. She looked apologetic. “I hadn’t planned to buy two meals at the airport.”
“No problem,” Drew said. “My treat. What about you and the kid there?”
“Oh, I can’t.” Teresa looked embarrassed.
Colette caught Drew’s imploring look. She took the seat beside Teresa. “Look, Drew makes a ton of money at his job— seriously, he’s wildly overpaid— and he wants to help you. He won’t miss it, and your kids are hungry. You need breakfast, too, if you’re going to keep up with them. Let him help you.” She hoped he hadn’t told Teresa that he taught high school, or her excuse would never fly.
Tears pricked the woman’s eyes and she nodded. “Thank you. Eggs, or egg sandwiches, pancakes, whatever you can get. My kids are equal opportunity eaters of breakfast foods.”
“Good to know,” Colette said. “I’m going to fill my water bottle.” She followed Drew away from their things, now that they had gotten to know Teresa enough to trust her to keep an eye on them for a couple minutes.
“I’m loaded, huh?” Drew asked.
“She wouldn’t have accepted if she thought
you were a starving school teacher. Besides, lunch will be more expensive to buy than breakfast, and I’ll handle that one.”
Drew stopped and looked at her, fun shining in his eyes. “You are something else. I’ve missed you, Colette.” He touched her face, and then moved away, heading for the food court.
Colette felt her pulse jump at his touch, grinning as she went to fill her water bottle.
If it weren’t for Sarah, she would hope the snow never stopped falling.
“Blue or Red?” Colette asked Drew. She leaned back in her seat, her head tipped near his.
“Blue.”
“For me, too.”
“Venice or London?” Drew asked.
“Ooh… tough one. London.”
“Really? I’m all about Venice.”
They were seated in the terminal chairs, which were growing increasingly less comfortable, passing the time and watching the snow plows clear the tarmac. At least the wind has calmed down. “I admit, Venice is pretty amazing. I had a great time there. Nuts in your chocolate, or toffee?” she asked.
“Toffee. When did you go to Venice?”
“Three years ago I took a two-week cruise of the Mediterranean. It was incredible. I also prefer toffee.”
Colette had an armful of sleeping toddler. Teresa had taken the older two kids for a walk around the terminal, to go up and look at the tile mosaics from the second floor railing, and to get some of their wiggles out. Lunch was already past, and the natives were restless. The good news was that the snow had finally stopped, and the plows were actually making some headway. And Colette and Drew were whiling away the time learning more about each other. It might not give them deep insights into each other’s souls, but it was interesting.
Though she was glad that they lived in the same region, at least, Kansas City and Wichita were still several hours apart, so managing a relationship would be difficult.
That was if he even wanted a relationship with her after this was over. They hadn’t talked about that at all. Though she felt they were growing closer with every hour, the specter of their past hung between them like a wedge.
“One kid or two?” she asked.
“Four.”
Colette turned to him. “Four? That’s a lot of kids.”
“Not that many, and I like kids.” He grinned over at Teresa’s children. “I think one is way too lonely, and two is not enough. With three one might get elbowed out sometimes and feel alone, so I’m all about four.”
“I suppose your wife would have some say in the matter.”
He grinned. “Yes, my theoretical wife would totally have a say about whether we had four or five kids.”
“Five!” Unthinkable.
“See, I knew you would agree, the more the merrier.”
Colette poked him in the side. “I’m surprised you’re teaching high school instead of kindergarten, if you like little kids that much.”
“I like all ages of humans. I’m no respecter of age.”
“Good to know. Ageism is totally wrong.” She tried to wrap her head around his plans. “Seriously, five? That’s a lot of kids.”
“It is, and I’m only half serious about that. I wouldn’t be against it, but I’d be happy to start with one and see how it goes.”
“I’m sure your theoretical future wife will appreciate that.”
Another snow plow came into view, pushing a load of snow to their left. “Looks like they’re going to actually get the area cleared for take-off before long.”
The snow had stopped nearly an hour earlier, and a lot of the heavy snow had finally been cleared. The wind had died back to a more reasonable amount as well. A giant brushing truck followed a plow, headed for one of the runways.
“It’ll probably take a while to get everyone who is stranded back in the air,” Drew said. “Assuming we’re both here, we could watch a movie tonight. I have my tablet, we have free Wi-Fi here, and we can share a pair of earbuds. Maybe get a pizza from downstairs. We could even borrow the movie of your choice with plenty of violence and gore.”
“Hey, my movie wasn’t really that gory— I said action, not violence. They don’t have to be gory to be exciting. And it’s all about good triumphing over evil. What’s not to love about that?”
He squeezed her hand. “Absolutely nothing.”
Teresa returned with the two older kids, who were full of energy and excitement after their run around the upper floor.
“Can we play some more Go Fish?” the boy asked.
“How about if I let you two borrow the cards and you can play together?” Drew offered.
“Okay.” The kids sat on the floor and started up a game.
Teresa looked like she was ready to collapse.
“Hey, we’ve got this for a little while if you want to take a nap,” Colette suggested. “I know you have to be exhausted.”
“I couldn’t possibly.”
“I understand why you don’t want to take your eyes off your kids, but I know you didn’t sleep much last night. I swear, the kids won’t go four feet from your side without your approval.”
Teresa bit her bottom lip, but finally nodded. She was asleep within two minutes.
“Wow, she was even more tired than I thought,” Colette said.
“It’s tough being a mom. I watch my sister dealing with her two kids. I’m amazed every day by how much she loves them.”
“That’s why you’re so good with them. You must love having her nearby, to spend time with all of them.”
Drew grinned. “I do. Not as much as my mom does, though— she’s like Super Grandma, but it’s great.”
Colette was actually a little jealous of that. Her parents were still in Milwaukee, and other than Christmas when they came to Kansas City, she rarely saw them.
“So tell me more about your job,” Drew asked. “What does your schedule look like these days?”
Colette adjusted the boy in her arms a little and settled back to tell him more.
Chapter Five
The airlines started some of the flights again in less than two hours. There were some flurries that afternoon, but the snow removal equipment seemed to handle it fine as they slowly opened more and more runways over the next few hours.
Drew helped Teresa deal with the woman at the ticketing counter to get on the first possible flight going to Phoenix, even though it meant his own connection would probably be full by the time he tried to book it, and he might have to wait until morning to continue to Oregon. Thankfully his brother’s wedding wasn’t scheduled until the next afternoon. There was still a slight chance Drew could make it for the ceremony. However, keeping Teresa and the kids from waiting here longer than absolutely necessary was more important.
After helping them settle into seats six gates down for a flight that was leaving soon, Drew returned to Colette, who was watching their bags back at their seating area.
“You want to join me in the melee of people jostling for the next available flight?” he asked.
“I already did mine over the phone. I managed to catch the red-eye. If I could have, I would have taken care of your ticket, too. I’m sorry.” Colette slid her hand into his, where he had started to think it belonged.
He hated the thought of her leaving and them not seeing each other again, but they hadn’t discussed the future yet. He still had six hours with her, though, and he was going to make the most of it. He called in to see about fixing his ticketing, and he managed a flight leaving at seven in the morning. The seating assignment did not please him, but he would make the wedding. He called Keith to let him know, and his brother sounded as relieved as Drew felt.
“Now that’s handled, you want to explore the airport with me?” he asked. “We still have a solid five hours until you have to board.”
“We might as well.”
They stood and headed for the main thoroughfare. They paused to look at sculptures, studied paintings as if they were the greatest of art, and discussed the most ridiculous i
nterpretations possible. They marveled over the huge garden growing in the middle of the airport, sampled smoothies, and tested the chocolates from the candy store. Thankfully, several delivery trucks had made it through that afternoon so the little shops had a lot of their selection back in stock.
Colette bought him some chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. “I know they aren’t gummy worms, but I figured you’d like these better.”
“You’re right.” He opened the package while they walked along, Colette dragging her suitcase behind her and his bag slung over one of his shoulders. “You want one?”
“No, I like fruity bears, not spicy ones— even if they are covered in chocolate.”
“Right, of course. What was I thinking?”
Colette shook her head. “I have no idea.”
Drew grinned over at her. “This has been the best twenty-four hours I’ve had in a long time.”
She tipped her head to study him, her tone more serious than before. “Me, too.”
The intensity in her gaze made him acutely aware that their time was limited. “Well, hey, it isn’t over, is it? After all, we still have time to watch a testosterone-laden movie and eat junk food.”
“I don’t think my system can handle any more junk food.”
“Then we’ll stop and get some juice or something instead. What do you think of Dr. Pepper?”
Colette lifted her brows, which made Drew laugh. He pulled her into the Jamba Juice he had seen earlier and bought her something loaded with vitamins and minerals.
They found her new terminal and settled down to stream a movie while they waited for her flight, but Drew couldn’t seem to let go of her hand.
He’d seen the movie before, which was good, since his mind wouldn’t focus on the screen. It kept veering back to Colette.
Halfway through, she paused it. “I’m sorry, it’s a great flick, but I’d rather talk to you while I still have the chance.”
Drew smiled, glad he wasn’t the only one. “That makes two of us.” He turned off the tablet and set it on his lap, then snuggled her under his arm. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
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